Bizzyblog-........Daily circulation at the top 20 US newspapers as of September 30 is down 7.6% from 2-1/2 years ago........via Instapundit

Blood cancer patient undergoes first stem cell transplant using Israeli-developed StemEx cord blood technique- Israel21c

Rush: Shhh- despite being on page A19 in the Times.......Well Done!!

"Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of United States forces in Baghdad, also said that American troops had yet to clear some 13 percent of the city, including Sadr City and several other areas controlled by Shiite militias. But, he said, 'there's just no question' that violence had declined since a spike in June. 'The Iraqi people have just decided that they've had it up to here with violence,' he said, while noting that their demands for electricity, water and jobs have intensified." We have beaten Al-Qaeda -- they call Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia -- we have beaten Al-Qaeda in Iraq in Baghdad. They are out. They have been routed. "Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, US Says." Only thing left is the 13% of the city controlled by Mookie and his boys. This is huge news. I don't know if you go and declare full-fledged victory, but this is profound news, A-19 of the New York Times with a headline that's not going to inspire anybody to want to read the story. You tell me that there's not an agenda in the Drive-By Media. I have people still trying to tell me this. This is almost like, "Shhhh, don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody, whisper this, Al-Qaeda is gone from Baghdad, don't tell anybody. We have to report it but we'll try to confuse it as much as we can." That's probably what went on at the editorial meeting at the New York Times. ....


You have not been given the credit that you deserve throughout this whole thing. You have been used as pawns. Politicians have maligned you, have called you names, accused you of crimes that you haven't committed. I've never seen anything like it. I didn't see the outrage about these accusations in this treatment that I hoped to see around the country. But despite all that, these people in uniform persevered, kept their eyes and their hearts on the mission, and they rejected all of this talk and they didn't let it affect them. The surge obviously has worked. All they gotta do is the 13% of Baghdad still run by Mookie al-Sadr's boys. So once again, congratulations, and, as I say, I wanted to make this the first thing I talked about today because it's being buried throughout the rest of the United States media.

"

Security second to none?

"In a string of raids Wednesday, federal and local authorities cracked down on a company that gave illegal aliens fake identity badges so they could work at O'Hare Airport.

Through Ideal Staffing Solutions Inc. -- a temporary employment agency based in Bensenville -- the undocumented aliens got jobs working on the O'Hare tarmac, loading freight and meals onto commercial airliners. In some case, the workers were able to get through O'Hare security with badges that had been deactivated."

Southern Border-Chris Burgard

Michael Yon

"Thanks and Praise: I photographed men and women, both Christians and Muslims, placing a cross atop the St. John’s Church in Baghdad. They had taken the cross from storage and a man washed it before carrying it up to the dome."

Claudia Rosett at Pajamasmedia has a follow up on the UN Climate meeting in Bali

Crime Beat- Deloitte Report on Fraud

Last day of voting for your favourite 2007 Weblogs........

Glenn Reynolds is in the Best individual blogger category

Smalldeadanimals is in the Best Canadian blog category

Climate audit in the Best Science Blog

LGF in Best online community

Captainsquarters in Best Conservative Blog category

Musharraf Says He Will Quit Army, Polls Will Be Held by Feb. 15 - Bloomberg

Crime beat- criminals have no borders-

Saskatchewan voters choose change-Saskatchewan Party takes majority 37 seats compared to 21 for the NDP

Michael Yon - More Progess in Iraq...................via Instapundit

Vicor Hanson- the Oil Hydra

Border- 'Date-rape' drug found in Chinese toy

Sue-Ann Levy - City Politics

Welcome back , France.....................IBD

Excerpts of President Sarkozy's address to Congress yesterday...

"America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who—with their hands, their intelligence and their heart—built the greatest nation in the world: “Come, and everything will be given to you.” She said: “Come, and the only limits to what you’ll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent.” America embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance.

Here, both the humblest and most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That’s what constitutes the moral value of America. America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it. And she fought for this freedom whenever she felt it to be threatened somewhere in the world. It was by watching America grow that men and women understood that freedom was possible.

What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind. .....


And as they listened to their fathers, watched movies, read history books and the letters of soldiers who died on the beaches of Normandy and Provence, as they visited the cemeteries where the star-spangled banner flies, the children of my generation understood that these young Americans, 20 years old, were true heroes to whom they owed the fact that they were free people and not slaves. France will never forget the sacrifice of your children.

To those 20-year-old heroes who gave us everything, to the families of those who never returned, to the children who mourned fathers they barely got a chance to know, I want to express France’s eternal gratitude. ....

On behalf of my generation, which did not experience war but knows how much it owes to their courage and their sacrifice; on behalf of our children, who must never forget; to all the veterans who are here today and, notably the seven I had the honor to decorate yesterday evening, one of whom, Senator Inouye, belongs to your Congress, I want to express the deep, sincere gratitude of the French people. I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them and I am sad, as one is sad to lose a member of one’s family...."